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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22871404">It's Dark Inside</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragoncat1991/pseuds/Dragoncat'>Dragoncat (Dragoncat1991)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:34:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,543</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22871404</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragoncat1991/pseuds/Dragoncat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>(Don't get too close, it's dark inside)<br/>(It's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide)</p><p>Kind of inspired by Demons by Imagine Dragons. Ingrid comforts a hurting Dimitri. Part of an all lords live AU. Read and review!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Ingrid Brandl Galatea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>It's Dark Inside</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>"Mercedes!" Gilbert's voice thundered across Gronder Field. Annette stood beside her father. "Mercie, quickly! Please!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Did he get stabbed...in the groin?" Sylvain winced. Ingrid silenced him with a glare.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"His femoral artery was cut." Mercedes corrected. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Annette shook. "Well, heal him!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Rodrigue lifted his head weakly. "Dimitri. You look so much like your father..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Help him, Mercie!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"If I try, it will only make him bleed out faster. A stab in this location...not even healing magic can help." Mercedes glanced over her shoulder at Felix. He looked as sour as ever. "Felix, if you want to say goodbye to him, now is the time." </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Rodrigue spasmed slightly, a weak smile forming across his face. Dimitri stared at him for a solid minute. "I think he's gone."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I recognize that smile. He saw his majesty King Lambert and Glenn, no doubt." Gilbert hung his head. "Now to find the identity of his...killer."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Sir, if we may." Two Kingdom soldiers approached, leading a man with his hands tied behind his back. He was tall and bulky, with spiked light blue hair and eyes the same color. He was wearing some light leather armor. "Heeeyy." The Empire troop spoke, his voice jogging the memories of most of the people present. "It's me. Caspar."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"This man says he was a classmate, and he has info." The soldier said.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Gilbert took the lead. "Caspar, huh. What info do you wish to share?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I know this lady." Caspar used his head to gesture toward the dead woman on the ground who had stabbed Rodrigue and been killed in retaliation. "My Aunt Fleche. Uncle Randolph died in battle a few months ago. Ever since she's been...hell bent on revenge. I figured you guys deserved to know. If you let me go, I will rejoin the Empire army. I will not pull any funny business on the way out. The next time we meet, I hope it will be during a time of peace."</em>
</p><p>------</p><p>The death of Duke Rodrigue Fraldarius cast a solemn mood over the camp. It had been nearly a week since. The duke's only remaining son, Felix, was understandably moping in his tent. He only came out to get food to take back with him and presumably find a bush to relieve himself behind, he hadn't been seen using the men's bathing/toilet tent. At least, not until today. </p><p><em>Stupid. Foolish old man. But hell, I miss him.</em> Felix gathered his supplies for a bath. A bar of soap, a towel, a change of clothes. <em>I've mourned. I've cried, for fuck's sake. It's like Glenn all over again. I hope nobody saw me cry. And I smell like the tail end of a demonic beast. Fantastic. Line for the bath. Sylvain. Goddess have mercy on my soul.</em></p><p>"Felix?" Sylvain blinked at Felix as he approached the line with his bag.</p><p>"Not like I haven't had a death in my family before. And I caught a whiff of myself. I stink."</p><p>Awkward pause.</p><p>"Mom contacted me." Felix continued. "I got the letter this morning. She's helping my uncle hold down the fort. And...she told me she didn't want to lose me like she did my father and brother. Told me to take care of myself. Here I am."</p><p>Sylvain smiled. "Sounds like her. Classic Sasha. Tough lady. And you, my friend, are clearly a momma's boy, not in a bad way."</p><p>Felix's eyes narrowed. "I don't want to chatter like a couple of magpies. Kindly shut up."</p><p>-----</p><p>"Ooh, Felix is venturing out." Ashe walked over to Ingrid, Mercedes, and Annette. "I was afraid to talk to him, to be honest. He always looks like, well...if you annoy him, he'll stab you. I wasn't sure what my condolences would sound like to him."</p><p>Annette frowned. "You still miss Lonato. That's still a real shame."</p><p>"Of course. I will never stop missing Lonato. He was not my biological father, but he may as well have been." Ashe hung his head and sighed.</p><p>"Felix aside, have you seen Dimitri? He hasn't spoken to a soul all week. Except maybe Gilbert. And I don't know if he's bathing or anything. Even Dedue doesn't know." </p><p>"Mercie, you talk to Dedue?" Annette blinked.</p><p>Mercedes shrugged. "On occasion. Last time I did, he told me, 'His Highness is taking this hard and not speaking to me.' I felt sorry for the big guy."</p><p>"Oh, he's bathing." Ashe said. "But he does it late at night when he thinks everyone else is asleep. I went out last night because I woke up. He was walking back to his tent in a towel. He was as surprised to see me as I was to see him."</p><p>"Rodrigue was like his second father." Ingrid piped up. "He was close to Glenn too. I think he realizes Rodrigue died to protect him, and he doesn't know how to handle that. He needs a hug. Or something."</p><p>"He needs a Maiden of Wind to his Loog." </p><p>Ingrid blinked. "Ashe?"</p><p>Annette bounced on her feet. "Ooh, yeah, he does! From what I know of that story, Loog was a fallen king, saved by the affections of the Maiden of Wind. You could be that maiden, Ingrid! You've known him longer than any of us."</p><p>"Great goddess above, you guys! A fairy tale kiss won't work here! I'm not doing that!" Ingrid protested. "And Ashe! You know as well as I do what took place after that kiss. It's unrealistic!"</p><p>"No, but you can go talk to him. Of course I didn't mean all that." Ashe smiled awkwardly.</p><p>"Wait, WHAT took place after the kiss?"</p><p>"You'll have to read the book, Annette." Ingrid said. "But I'll give you a hint...it's adult rated."</p><p>------</p><p>Dimitri laid down on the floor of his tent, wrapping himself in his cape. All week, his head had been spinning with confusion and grief. Gilbert was encouraging him to keep moving forward, that it was what Rodrigue would have wanted. The old knight was a close friend. But Dimitri had been pushing his friends away for months now. His stubbornness would have led them all to their deaths if he kept it up. Where nightmares of ghosts haunted him before, now he couldn't get Rodrigue's dying face out of his mind. The smile, like he was ready and at peace...but his eyes never closed. Again, Dimitri had gazed into the lifeless, glazed over eyes of a man who he loved as a father. Like King Lambert, Rodrigue's eyes had been blue. Blue, until they turned pale and nearly white at death.</p><p>Many people would turn to prayer at times like this. Gilbert certainly was...but the prince was unsure how well that worked. There was a goddess, there surely had to be, but from Dimitri's experience, one could pray to her all they wanted, but she wasn't going to answer. Gilbert would say she would, it would just be subtle, and one must only pay attention. Dimitri would believe it when he saw it.</p><p>His tent flap opened, and Ingrid walked in and stood beside him. He lifted his head to see who had come in, then rolled over and faced away from her. "What do you want, Ingrid?"</p><p>"Felix has ventured out. It's time you do as well."</p><p>"Good for him, I guess."</p><p>Ingrid sighed. "Rodrigue wouldn't want you to be like this."</p><p>"That's what Gilbert has been saying." Dimitri grumbled. "That Rodrigue is at peace. That he's with my father and Glenn, and they're in no pain and happy. Quite unfair to the ones they left behind, if you ask me."</p><p>"Dimitri, I'll tell you something." Ingrid sat down beside Dimitri and patted his shoulder. "When Glenn died, I was a mess at first. I truly loved him. Yes, we were fiances because our parents said so, but we were also in love. But then I started to think. Would he want me to mourn him forever? No. He would want me to be the strong woman he fell in love with. He would want me to not forget him, but also to keep living my best life."</p><p>Dimitri responded with a soft growl.</p><p>Ingrid hesitated, then curled herself around him. He tensed. "I'm giving you a hug. You need one." </p><p>After an awkward silence, Dimitri rolled over so that he was facing Ingrid. He said nothing, just held onto her, seemingly for dear life. Her ear was on his chest, his heartbeat was tense and almost frantic. Ingrid remembered the story her and Ashe enjoyed. <em>That's it, Loog. Accept the Maiden's comfort...</em></p><p>"We can't stay like this." He spoke softly. "People will talk." His facial expression said the opposite. His good non patched eye, blue as the sky, fixed on her, and his mouth in a vulnerable pout.</p><p>"I will leave in a little while. You need this."</p><p>
  <em>She's not wrong...</em>
</p><p>Gilbert opened the tent flap an hour later and smiled at the scene in front of him. It appeared that the soon to be king had chosen his queen. He couldn't bring himself to wake them. This might throw off their sleep schedule, napping so late in the afternoon...but that wouldn't be the end of the world.</p>
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